Eligibility: First-time mother aged 18 years and over with a singleton baby and a medically uncomplicated pregnancy or baby full term at delivery; baby discharged with mother; English as ﬁrst language; Caucasian.

Objective

To examine the relationships between social support, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression in ﬁrst-time mothers at six weeks post-delivery.

The significance of family support in enhancing maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and positively influencing mental health for ﬁrst-time mothers at 6 weeks post-delivery: There was a significant association between informal social network (family and friends) support and maternal parental self-efﬁcacy at 6 weeks post-delivery.

Significant relationships were found between: functional social support and postnatal depression; informal social support and postnatal depression; maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression; and informal social support and maternal parental self-efﬁcacy at 6 weeks post-delivery.

Limitations

As this was a quantitative study, mothers’ in-depth perceptions and experiences of social support, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression have not been explored from their frame of reference.

Non-random sample: A convenience sample was selected due to time constraints and in an effort to obtain a large number of respondents with consideration for tests of statistical signiﬁcance. A random sample may have provided a group with differing support needs, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy levels and rates of postnatal depression.